It was morning - and he awoke and saw his mother standing at the end of his bed.

‘Are you ready?’ - She asked.

‘Yes - I am ready.’

His mother walked to the side of the bed and sat down. She pulled the sheets back and exposed his naked body.

‘What are you going to do to her?’

‘I will….I will start with torturing her, for a couple of days.’

‘And then?’ - His mother asked.

‘And then I will kill her - and fuck her dead body.’

‘Good boy’ - said his mother - ‘And then?’

‘I will cut her up, and bury her in the woods about a mile from here.’

His mother smiled at him - ‘So what are you waiting for? As soon as you kill her, I will be back and we can be together forever.’

‘Yes mother.’

His mother left the room.

He got up and made some coffee and smoked a cigarette. He looked at the barn doors from the kitchen window. He quickly finished his coffee and put on a pair of rain boots. He walked from the farmhouse to the barn naked, except for the rain boots - smoking a cigarette. He unlocked the barn doors and stepped inside - closing the doors behind him. He found the light switch and turned on the lights.

‘Good morning’ - said a cheerful voice, and he looked over to where Annabelle was sitting strapped to the chair in the cage. She was smiling at him.

He walked to the wall where the cattle prod was charging, and he unplugged it and held it in his hands.

‘Oh my goodness’ - said Annabelle, beaming a smile at him - ‘If this is what I think it is, then I have to tell you - I am so excited.’

He stared at Annabelle.

‘Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions - personal questions - before we get started?’ - Annabelle asked, in a friendly and business-like voice.

He continued to stare at Annabelle. Normally they were groggy and scared and crying and begging. He didn’t understand what was going on.

‘What…?’ - He said, confused.

‘Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions - just for verification?’ - Annabelle said - ‘It’s procedure.’

He stood naked in his rain boots with the cattle prod in his hand - ‘Verification?’

‘Yes’ - said Annabelle - ‘There are strict procedures I have to follow. I have to verify everything.’

He tossed the cattle prod in his hand - ‘You do understand what’s going on here, don’t you?’

Annabelle smiled at him - ‘That’s what I need to verify.’

He stood and looked at his smiling prisoner - ‘What questions?’

Annabelle smiled even more.

‘Thank you - now it’s very important that you answer all of the questions honestly. Do you understand?’

He nodded, still tossing the cattle prod over and over in his hand.

‘Okay - first question. Are you planning to kill me?’

He nodded.

‘Was that a yes?’

‘Yes.’

Annabelle beamed at him.

‘And have you done this before - killed?’

He nodded.

‘Was that a yes? Please be clear with your answers.’

‘Yes.’

‘This is wonderful - and if I may ask, how many times before have you killed?’

‘A few.’

‘Could you be precise?’

‘Five times.’

Annabelle laughed a little - ‘Well, I have to say it’s a real pleasure to meet you. I was beginning to think that this would never work out. I’ve waited so long to meet you, and thank you for taking the time and dedication to stick with it.’

He was now very confused.

‘Just one last question - as part of the procedure. Can you please confirm that you are free and wild - and in no way are you confined or imprisoned and are able to operate without hindrance or let?’

‘What the fuck is this?’ - He spluttered.

‘If you can just confirm?’

He unlocked the cage and stepped in. He turned on the cattle prod and pushed it against Annabelle’s neck. Annabelle smiled at him as the volts shot in her neck. He pulled the cattle prod away, and then jabbed it back into Annabelle’s neck. She didn’t react. He checked the cattle prod, and adjusted the voltage. He jammed the cattle prod back into Annabelle’s neck.

‘So can you confirm that you are free and wild - and in no way are you confined….’

He slammed the cattle prod down on Annabelle’s head.

‘....or imprisoned and able to operate without hindrance or let?’

He slammed the cattle prod down again on her head again. She did not react - and she was not damaged. She smiled at him.

‘What the fuck is going on?’ - He backed out of the cage and stood naked in his rain boots looking at Annabelle.

Annabelle smiled at him - ‘It’s okay. If you just finish answering my questions everything will be in order and we can continue.’

‘Continue what? Who the fuck are you?’

He moved forward and locked the cage, and then stumbled backwards and out of the barn. He slammed the barn door shut and locked it. He walked back to the farmhouse, looking over his shoulder. He went into the kitchen and found his cigarettes. He lit one.

‘So….?’ - Said a voice.

He spun around and his mother was sitting at the kitchen table. He looked scared.

He puffed his cigarette.

‘That was quick. Is there a problem?’

He stared at his mother and smoked his cigarette - ‘Something’s wrong.’

‘How is something wrong?’

He turned and stared out at the barn doors - ‘She’s not like the others. She seems happy, and keeps asking me questions.’

‘Happy?’

‘She said she was excited. She said it was wonderful that I had killed before and that I was planning on killing her.’

He smoked his cigarette and stared at the barn.

‘She said she need to verify everything.’

‘Verify everything?’ - His mother asked.

‘Yes - verify everything.’

‘Is she the police?’

He turned back to his mother - ‘I don’t know what she is. I electrocuted her and she didn’t seem to feel anything. I smashed her on the head twice - and she didn’t even react!’

There was silence in the kitchen for a moment.

‘Kill her. Kill her now!’ - His mother barked - ‘Use the butcher’s knife in the drawer.’

He threw his cigarette in the sink, and then pulled open the drawer. There was a large knife there, and he pulled it out. He felt the blade and it was dull. He took out the knife sharpener and began sharpening the knife. He worked in silence - and could feel his mother staring at him behind him.

He sharpened the knife and then lit another cigarette. He left the kitchen and marched back to the barn.

####

He opened the barn door and looked in. Annabelle was sitting and smiling at him. He stepped into the barn and closed the door. He walked toward the cage.

‘So’ - said Annabelle - ‘Can you confirm that you are free and wild - and in no way are you confined or imprisoned, and are able to operate without hindrance or let?’

He stood in front of the cage - naked and wearing the rain boots, a burning cigarette in one hand and the butcher’s knife in the other.

‘Who the fuck are you?’

There was silence for a while - Annabelle smiled at him.

‘Can you confirm that you….’

‘WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?’ - He screamed, stepping closer to the cage.

More silence with Annabelle smiling at him.

‘Are you the police?’

Annabelle laughed - ‘Just answer my question, and I’ll let you know everything.’

‘I AM IN FUCKING CHARGE HERE! ME - NOT FUCKING YOU!’ - He screamed again.

There was a prolonged period of silence. He smoked his cigarette and stared at Annabelle.

‘Okay - let's play a game. You ask a question and I answer it, then I can ask a question. The only rule is you must answer honestly. Deal?’

He dropped his cigarette on the floor of the barn - ‘Deal - I ask first.’

Annabelle smiled at him - ‘Deal - go ahead and ask your question.’

There was a moment of silence.

‘Who the fuck are you?’

‘My name is Margarluus Margarlaux - and I work as an exhibit collector for the Museum of the Galaxy. Now it is my turn….’

Before Annabelle, or Margarluus Margarlaux, could ask their question he unlocked the cage and lunged forward, stabbing her in the chest. The blade sank into the flesh and a deep blue liquid seeped out of the wound. He stumbled backward out of the cage and fell on his back.

‘‘Can you confirm that you are free and wild - and in no way are you confined or imprisoned and able…’ - he heard Annabelle saying as he scrambled out of the barn. He got to his feet and ran back to the farmhouse - slamming and locking the front door behind him. He went to the kitchen and stared out of the kitchen window. He was now terrified. He couldn’t understand what was going on. He looked at his hand - the hand he had stabbed her with - and it was covered in flecks of the blue liquid that had shot out of the stab wound. He washed his hands.

‘What is happening?’ - A stern voice said behind him.

He jumped and spun around - it was his mother sitting at the kitchen table.

‘She’s not human - I stabbed her and blue blood came out of her!’

‘Get a grip - you aren’t making any sense. Is she dead?’

He spun around and watched the open barn door. He fumbled for his cigarettes and lit one, rummaging through the drawer looking for another knife. All he could find was a soup ladle, so he gripped this as a weapon.

‘She said her name is Margo-something - and she is from a museum collecting specimens. I stabbed her with the knife and blue blood came out of the wound. She’s a fucking alien!’

There was silence and he gripped the ladle and smoked as he stared out of the window.

‘You are hallucinating’ - said his mother.

He turned slowly around and stared at her.

‘YOU ARE DEAD AND ARE SPEAKING TO ME - AND THERE IS A FUCKING ALIEN IN THE BARN. AND NOW YOU TELL ME THAT I’M HALLUCINATING….WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON?’

He spun back around and stared at the barn.

‘Put that fucking ladle down and get the gun from above the fireplace. There are cartridges in the dresser. Go back out and blast whatever is in the barn!’

He was twitching as he looked out to the barn. He threw the ladle in the sink and marched naked to the living room, grabbing the double-barreled shotgun down from the hooks, and looking in the draws of the dresser. He found a box of 12-gauge cartridges, and loaded two into the shotgun before clicking it together. He marched back through to the kitchen and to the front door of the farmhouse which he unbolted. He leveled the shotgun and moved towards the open barn doors. He slowly edged his way into the barn and could see Annabelle sitting and smiling. The knife was on the floor beside her, and she looked quite relaxed.

‘Who were you talking to?’ - Annabelle asked - ‘I heard you shouting at someone.’

He approached the open cage cautiously with the shotgun pointed at Annabelle’s chest.

‘That’s not important’ - said Annabelle - ‘What’s important is whether you can confirm that you are free and wild - and in no way are you confined or imprisoned and are able to operate without hindrance or let?’

He stepped closer to the open cage - ‘You fucking bet I can confirm that I am free and wild, and I can confirm that you are fucking dead!’

He pulled the trigger on the shotgun, and it made a popping noise and smoked. The cartridges were damp. He pulled the trigger again and the same thing happened. He began backing away from the open cage - but as he moved away time seemed to slow down. And then he froze. He could see Annabelle ahead of him, and she was climbing out of the chair and walking towards him. He tried to move - but he couldn’t. Annabelle walked over to him - also naked - and stood beside him as he stood frozen to the spot.

‘Thank you for that’ - said Annabelle - ‘We have very strict rules about only catching wild and free specimens for the museum, and we always have to follow procedure. Now that I have confirmation from you that you are indeed wild and free and in no way are you confined or imprisoned and able to operate without hindrance or let, I can start the specimen collection process’

He felt himself moving towards the cage - and then into the cage and then turning around. He felt like he was floating. He felt himself sitting down in the chair, and he felt the restraints fastening. And then he saw Annabelle closing the cage door and locking it. And then he was back - he was no longer frozen - but he was restrained in his own chair in his own cage and in his own barn. Annabelle stood outside the cage - naked and smiling at him.

‘The prisons and jails on earth are filled with people like you, and it would be very easy to walk up to a jail and bust one of you out, but we’re not allowed to do that. All specimens collected for exhibition at the museum of the galaxy have to be caught in the wild….and I have waited so very long to catch you’ - said Annabelle.

She looked around the barn and found a stool which she pulled over and sat down in front of him.

‘Oh so very long - and with so many false hopes! You wouldn’t believe what I have had to do to find you. Our research stated that sex workers on this planet were the most likely to encounter what you people call a “serial killer” - and so for the last 40 of your human years I have been a sex worker. I have traveled from city to city, and town to town. Sucking dicks and fucking in the hope that I would find a serial killer, and now I have. And - if I don’t mind saying so - I think I have done a very good job.’

Annabelle stood and left the barn. She returned a few moments later and had his cigarettes and his lighter. She lit a cigarette.

‘A little celebration with a uniquely human habit - burning plants and inhaling their poisonous smoke to give yourself chronic diseases that will eventually kill you.’

Annabelle smoked the cigarette and stared at him.

‘I thought once - a long while ago - that I had caught a serial killer’ - she puffed the cigarette - ‘But it was a false alarm, and it crushed me at the time. I was working as what is known as a “truck stop hooker” out in Indiana. These truck drivers would come in and have a meal and buy some beers, and then get a girl to suck and fuck them in the back of their cabs….’

Annabelle flicked away the cigarette and lit another one.

‘....so this one guy - he flashes me with his headlights and I wander over and he offers me $50 to suck his cock. I say yeah, and I climb in the back of his cab and I start sucking him. I’ll just say - he was a fat and smelly and dirty old bastard, but that was beside the point. I was sucking his cock and he finished, so he went to get his wallet but then he grabbed me by the throat and started strangling me. I was thrilled - thinking that the months of working at the truck stop had finally bagged a real serial killer, but it turned out he was just trying to rob me of my money….’

Annabelle stared at him - ‘And then the years and months of drifting from one city to the next, working as a street hooker on skid row and as an escort advertising massages on the back page of newspapers. Meeting men in motels and being tied up and whipped and beaten - but it was all worth it to catch you - my prize beauty!’

Annabelle flicked away the cigarette.

‘There isn’t anyone in the house - who were you shouting at?’

He sat there - terrified. He couldn’t speak. He just stared at this naked woman - or whatever she was - and breathed.

‘Our research tells us that many serial killers suffer from some form of psychosis - do you suffer from psychosis? Were you speaking to a hallucination?’

He didn’t say anything.

‘Would you like to see what I really look like?’

He was trembling with fear. Sweat ran into his eyes and stung him as he stared at Annabelle. She stood and put her hands behind her head and leaned forward a bit - fiddling with the back of her head. And then she stood up straight and smiled at him. She then pulled apart the back of her head and pulled the human skin over her forehead and down her face. Under Annabelle’s skin she had blue and green scales, and her eyes were golden with a black slit in the middle - like those of a reptile.

He screamed uncontrollably - and Annabelle walked around the cage. Urine ran from the chair he was sitting on. Annabelle pulled the human disguise back up over her face and refastened it at the back of her head. She smiled at him and then left the barn and went back to the house. She reemerged a while later wearing some of his grandmother’s old and mothballed clothes, and a pair of old rain boots. Annabelle spun around in front of the cage.

‘How do I look?’ - She asked, giggling.

She had his car keys in her hand.

‘Now I need for you to be a good boy and stay here - I have to head back to the city to collect my specimen collection equipment, and then I will be back to take care of you. You just make yourself comfortable - and don’t worry about anything. Everything’s going to be okay from now on.’

Annabelle turned the lights off in the barn and closed the doors, locking them. He heard the car start up and drive away.